未来"月球村"或成真

 Johann-Dietrich Woerner, who became the director general of the European Space Agency last July, believes that human beings will eventually live and work on the Moon.

His vision of a lunar settlement includes various space-faring nations, all living and working together.

"The Moon village, we would like to combine the capabilities¹ of different space-faring nations, be it robotic or be it human, to look also for different activities, be it pure science, be it also business, even tourism, or mining or whatever, to put them together on the same place, and this is the idea of the Moon village."

月球村

Woerner sees a permanent lunar base as the next logical step, particularly following successful collaboration² between space enabled countries on the International Space Station.

"The idea is that the different actors, the different players worldwide, they look in their special capabilities, and their special interests, and they bring just their small part into the idea. That means we can start with a small landing mission, which many countries are already planning, up to a huge investment for instance for some telescope, radio telescope, on the far side of the Moon. So it's multiple uses by multiple users, but a single place."

But how could you build such structures so far away from Earth?

One idea is to use the Moon's own natural resources to build and sustain a lunar base.

Roaming rovers could gather ice, metals and minerals to 3D print a structure or building.

A rover would land on the surface, inflate³ a dome⁴, and then begin constructing a building to protect it and the astronauts inside.

Woerner hopes establishing a lunar base will allow experts to set up a radio telescope on the far side of the moon, shielded from radio pollution from Earth.

Astronauts could also be sent to the Moon's pole regions, where unmanned missions have previously⁵ found water ice.

He says as more nations make plans to return to the Moon, the need for a permanent base will grow.

"The first step is already done. The first step is that we are discussing it and there are several member states of ESA, but also outside ESA, which are interested in doing some missions to Moon. So we have also from ESA we have a cooperation together with the Russians for some Moon landing ideas. So, all of these now have to be in a further discussion process, come together. So it's started already. "

China has long advocated collaboration in space research, and a mission to the moon to collect samples is scheduled for later this year.

China is also well on the way to launching a manned space station into low Earth orbit in the coming years.

For CRI, I'm Xie Cheng.

1 capabilities   

n.能力( capability的名词复数 )；可能；容量；[复数]潜在能力

参考例句：

• He was somewhat pompous and had a high opinion of his own capabilities. 他有点自大，自视甚高。 来自辞典例句
• Some programmers use tabs to break complex product capabilities into smaller chunks. 一些程序员认为，标签可以将复杂的功能分为每个窗格一组简单的功能。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

2 collaboration   

n.合作，协作；勾结

参考例句：

• The two companies are working in close collaboration each other.这两家公司密切合作。
• He was shot for collaboration with the enemy.他因通敌而被枪毙了。

3 inflate   

vt.使膨胀，使骄傲，抬高（物价）

参考例句：

• The buyers bid against each other and often inflate the prices they pay.买主们竞相投标，往往人为地提高价钱。
• Stuart jumped into the sea and inflated the liferaft.斯图尔特跳到海里给救生艇充气。

4 dome   

n.圆屋顶，拱顶

参考例句：

• The dome was supported by white marble columns.圆顶由白色大理石柱支撑着。
• They formed the dome with the tree's branches.他们用树枝搭成圆屋顶。

5 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。